BRITS + DOGS + ROCK N ROLL

It’s National Black Dog Day

Black dogs are beautiful as you can see by looking at my big girl Miss Galaxy.

Did you know that black animals in shelters are the least adoptable pets? Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? To me and many other owners of these black beauties it is.

So why is it that black animals are invisible to so many people? The colour black carries a stigma that bleeds over into rescue animals. The colour black has been viewed as evil for a very long time. Ever heard that a black cat is bad luck or that witches have black cats? It’s something that potential adopters do think about and we want to change that.

Have you notice how hard it is to photograph a black dog? It’s hard to see their features. From a shelter point of view this can lessen the chances of finding that forever home. If adopters can’t see their features a connection is less likely.

What can we do to change this perception? Shelters and rescues can remind people to truly look into every dog’s eyes no matter what their colour making them aware of all the dogs looking for homes. They can tell them that black dogs are the least adoptable due to some stigma issues and not for any other reason. Featuring black beauties can raise awareness and get them a spotlight through social media. Giving them a bright colorful collar coupled with great photography is crucial, it increases the number of black dogs adopted. Most people are adopting their pets through first seeing them online so stepping up the quality of photography is important. If a shelter does not have a professional photographer it would be wise to reach out to the community to have one as part of the adoption team. Let’s not forget the abundance of free photograph apps that you can use to tweak the photos to brighten their faces.

Finally the National Black Dog Day is a day to lift the awareness of the plight of black dogs in shelters. There are thousands of dogs who for no other reason than being black are being overlooked and this is a day to celebrate them and show them in their best light. Please adopt a black dog and show the world how beautiful they are!

When I looked into Miss Galaxy’s eyes for the first time…she had me at BLACK.